GPS for European motoring

(Hm) wrote:

Jeremy Henderson wrote in message . ..
Following a suggestion on this group, I have been looking int the idea of
an in-car GPS to help me navigate beyond my driveway withut getting lost -
a rare occurrence when I venture out armed only with a map, and completely
unkown when my wife volunteers to navigate.


You really should check out (search) the other groups (
sci.geo.satellite-nav and alt.satellite.gps ) There are regular
discussions on automotive GPSes and their uses.
I used to have the SPIII and now have the 2610, for automotive use (I
also use it on my motorcycle) it is the absolute top, with a big
enough CF card you can have all the maps loaded, it has a lot of
configuration options, the remote is really usefull (I didn't think I
would use it as much as I do) I've done 1000s of KM all over the EU
from Poland to Portugal with both the SPIII and the 2610 and am
completly hooked, even in places where there are no detailed maps
(like Poland) it is comforting to know you're still going the right
direction towards your destination and the tracklog makes going back
is so much easier (I just wish the tracklog was a bit bigger, I have a
little Geko 201 too and that one has a tracklog 5 times the size of
the Streetpilots).

So if you want the top get the 2610, if it really is too much and you
do not want to use the GPS in an outdoor environment (motorcycle/boat)
I would suggest to get iQue3600 (it is not waterproof). Otherwise the
SPIII, I wouldn't get the V, I don't think it can calculate its own
routes so you'd need to do that on the PC, it doesn't have the voice
commands that the others have (this is a must for automotive use) and
it's screen is just too small.

PS. Garmin has a very good service reputation (I speak from personal
experience and from what I read on other forums) and their devices are
very durable.


The one drawback to the 2610 / 2620 is the high cost of the City
Navigator Europe maps for the device. City Navigator Europe will run
you another $600 on top of what you paid for the 2610/2620 GPS with
the North American basemap if you happen to live in the U.S.

Dave

In article , Go Fig
wrote:

In article , poldy
wrote:

On a related topic, I heard the Europeans were planning to launch their
own system. Forget what it was going to be called but it would be more
accurate than the US allows for consumer GPS applications.


Perhaps in some latitudes, but the EU system, years away, will also
have an end user tax... the U.S. system, available for more than a
decade, is FREE.


Well... Free if you're not a US taxpayer in that your taxes didn't pay
for it.